ctrl.altered.mind

If you can get this lucky with your photo subjects all the time.

Google can tell us a lot about the world. All of a sudden, there’s this collective intelligence that anyone can tap into and learn about new and current trends, and perceptions, as well as the needs and desires that people around the planet might have.

Being up to no good on a Saturday afternoon, I try to find out what people are generally waiting for in their lives. Well, I guess we know the answer now. Thanks to Google Suggest.

A soccer field in Munich. Think winning a game here would be an uphill battle? I’m inclined to agree with you.

(Another picture after the jump)

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Funny, nevertheless.

(via stumbleupon)

(via National Geographic News)

Scott Adams, best known as the author of Dilbert, posted an account of an exasperating plane journey he had recently, on the Dilbert blog today:

Yesterday I was flying across the country. My biggest fear when flying isn’t that the jet might crash; it’s that I might end up sitting next to the World’s Most Annoying Man for five hours. Theoretically, such a person exists. I mean, SOMEONE has to be the most annoying man in the world. And there’s a good chance that he flies. After yesterday, I’m reasonably sure that he looks like Mr. Clean on crack, and he was sitting next to me in seat 3D.

As you know, when people use headphones, they talk too loudly because they can’t hear themselves. I learned that this phenomenon extends to nasal sounds in the sniff-snort category. Mr. Clean on crack was rocking out to his iPod and sniff-snorting so loudly every few seconds that the flight crew kept looking out the window to see if a pterodactyl was attacking the fuselage.

Oh, I’m just getting started…

The complete essay is humorous in a way only Adams can be, but it has also managed to instill a deep fear in my mind. After all, the 0.056547619-fortnight-long plane ride(s) I shall be experiencing (each way) a month from now - I’m going back home for a vacation - are going to be much longer than what Adams has had to endure in a single sitting. The excruciation that results from restricted motion over such long periods of time is simply exponential, in a way that can not be described to someone who has not experienced anything beyond a domestic flight. I’ll be preparing for the onset of boredom with books, music, and the anticipation of a good in-flight movie selection, but nothing can prepare you to handle the misfortune of having the World’s Most Annoying Man by your side. Please include me in your prayers.

I couldn’t resist. I found a book that is well crafted for its market segment.

Amazon.com: MySpace For Dummies: Ryan Hupfer,Mitch Maxson,Ryan Williams

An advertisement by BMW.

An Audi response.

(I’ve not verified if these are real ads, but they are funny nevertheless!).

Update! rs6 brings up the point that Subaru joined in here as well, with this advertisement. They still look photoshopped and unofficial to me.

Link to Autoblog post

Chris pointed out a discovery by eagle-eyed Google Maps users, who have spotted a 50-meter-long insect roaming the German countryside.

Slashdot contributor kdawson clarifies that a moderator at a Keyhole forum has ID’ed the bug as a thrips, about 1mm long, squished under a glass plate during scanning.

Google Map Capture of the Bug

… in today’s Dilbert comic strip.